Innocence
by sdbubbles
Summary: Hanssen finds a little boy lost in the hallway and...thinks.


**A/N: Just a little fic that came to me earlier today.**

**Dedicated to Khian-Grant Moir. You will have your dad's looks, your mother's brains, your Uncle Grant's sense of fun that drove everyone up the wall and you Granny Christeen's strength and courage. You will be the most wonderfull little boy and grow up to be a good, kind and loving man.**

**Sarah x**

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><p>Hanssen heard a soft sobbing outside of his door and frowned. The place ought to have been quiet at this time of the night, and any child ought to have been asleep. He got up and looked around the corridor. His dark eyes fell on a small boy, maybe about two years old, sitting on the floor, quite obviously lost, scared and confused. He had a notion that he had seen that boy today before, on Darwin Ward. He looked as if he had only just learned to walk, so it would make sense that he would be from a ward on the same floor as his current position.<p>

He picked up the boy, being careful not to frighten him, and held the child to his waist so that his head was level with Hanssen's shoulder. The baby had dark brown, almost black, hair and eyes just as dark as the Swede's. It felt strange to Hanssen to be carrying a child around, but it did not really bother him all that much. A child of this age could not tell what he was thinking and could not voice an opinion. The worst he could do was probably to throw up on him or something. He was harmless.

He stared into the child's eyes and saw the innocence that he loved in children. They held no grudges and they aimed to harm nobody. And when they did lie, they rarely were devious enough to get away with it anyway. He remembered when he lost all of that simplicity and harmlessness as a child. His world had crashed down at his feet the moment he was told that his mother was dead. It changed him in a way that nobody but he truly understood. At that moment, pain became unusually bearable for him. That was not how it ought to have been. He believed that one should know when they were anguished, but he barely noticed it a lot of the time. Ignoring pain became second nature to him.

In most respects, Hanssen and this child were polar opposite. But, there was one striking similarity that they unknowingly shared: an insight into themselves that only they knew about. The boy could not understand it, but he knew how he felt and why he felt that way and what was needed to help. Hanssen knew what he felt, why he felt like that and what was required to help. But, unlike the boy, he could not cry out for what he wanted. The boy could cry for anything and his mother would try her utmost to give him what he needed. But Hanssen, he had learned at a very young age to fend for himself. It came with the territory of being alone.

"Shall we find your mother?" he asked the toddler quietly. He smiled a little and headed to Darwin. She ought to have been out of surgery and pretty much awake. Slowly, he walked down the corridor with the child in his arms. He was not used to holding a baby for this length of time, but he found that he did not mind it. In fact, he found it quite calming to hold a peaceful infant as he walked. He entered the almost silent ward to find Greg at the station. "Miss Howe?" he enquired in a hushed voice.

"Bed two," Greg replied with a strange look at Hanssen. He reached for the phone and Hanssen realised that he was calling off the search for the boy. Henrik made his way to the young blonde woman and sat down next to her sleeping form.

He reached for her arm and shook it gently. "Miss Howe," he whispered in an attempt to wake her. When that did not work, he said, "Zoë," a little more forcefully. She stirred and turned round to face the doctor. Her face lit up at the sight of her son and she sat up straight, ignoring the pain it must have been causing her.

"Your son," Hanssen said as he passed the toddler to her. He smiled ever so slightly at the scene in front of him. He could tell that she truly loved her son more than anything else in the world. She would die for him if she had to, but Henrik hoped it never had to happen. She put her fingers in his dark, thick hair and beamed in relief and happiness.

"I love you," she reminded him. She held him close and put her chin on the top of his head. She kissed his hair and breathed in his scent deeply, as if she was afraid to lose him. "I love you so much."

"I don't think he doubts that," Hanssen told her with a small smile. "I don't think he will ever doubt that he means the world to you." He placed a hand on Zoë's shoulder and let the boy grasp his finger for a moment before leaving for his office again, leaving a shocked Greg to stare at Zoë and her beautiful son and wonder where that unusually soft side to his boss had come from.

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><p><strong>Hope it was OK!<strong>

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Sarah x**


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